Sabo monument to be dedicated Sept. 30

Friday

ELLWOOD CITY -- A monument dedicated to Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. will be unveiled in Legion Park during a ceremony at 2 p.m. Sept. 30.

Details of the ceremony and monument were discussed during Tuesday’s meeting of the Sgt. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. Memorial Fund committee at the Ellwood City Municipal Building.

Robert Morabito, commander of Ellwood City American Legion Post 157 and vice chairman of the committee, conducted the meeting.

The entire 2,000-word Medal of Honor citation will be cast in bronze and mounted on a tall black Pennsylvania granite monument. Gray granite side monuments will be engraved with tributes to all the Vietnam veterans and a prayer for the 58,000 who lost their lives as well as the seven soldiers in Sabo’s unit who died in battle with him.

A colored porcelain photo of Sabo will be mounted on the front of the monument and another colored porcelain photo of him in full battle gear also will be placed on the monument.

The second photo was taken by a fellow soldier with an instant camera in the mountains of Vietnam near Cambodia in March 1970. He wrote on the back of the photo, “This is how we carry our food and anything else. That’s the reason it’s so hard when we’re climbing mountains or just plain walking.” These words also will be engraved on the monument.

Morabito, as well as Dom A. Viccari, borough manager, will be in charge of the program and the program book for the dedication ceremony. Council President Anthony “Lefty” DeCarbo will be in charge of invitations and Mayor Anthony Court will be in charge of the welcoming committee. Robert Leech will represent Sabo’s Lincoln High School graduating Class of 1966 and Vietnam veterans. Carl Castellani, commander of Disabled Veterans Chapter 112, and Leo Sicard, co-chairman of the Prisoners of War and Missing in Vietnam of Pennsylvania, will be coordinating the Medal of Honor flag raising and military rites.

Those who donate $200 or more will have their names engraved on the back of the gray granite side monuments. Donors of $200 or more may also donate in memory of a loved one, whose name will be engraved on the back of the gray granite side monuments. All contributions will be listed in the program book.